AN OPTIMAL-CONTROL APPROACH TO STABILISING AUSTRALIAN WOOL PRICES*

In this paper, some aspects of the application of optimal-control techniques to wool industry price stabilisation are considered. It is not intended to provide a blueprint for the immediate adoption of optimal-control techniques in the management of wool price stablisation. Rather, the contribution is to the developmental and evaluative process involved in considering these techniques. A new econometric model of wool price and supply is also presented, since none of the existing models satisfied the requirements of the study.     

Pay reference arbitration and the disclosure of information

This, the first of two articles, brings together two aspects of industrial relations: the practice of arbitration and the disclosure of information in the specific context of financial information disclosed at general pay claim references, making use of two case studies in which a relatively high degree of information was made available.     

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND VOUCHER BUY-OUTS IN RUSSIA

This paper examines the issues which may create pressures and incentives to introduce efficiency-enhancing governance structures in enterprises which are privatized through voucher schemes in Russia. These pressures emphasize the need to view buy-outs created on privatization as transitory organizational forms with a three-stage process being suggested as the most feasible for developing governance mechanisms which produce efficiency gains, The paper uses illustrative case studies of the first major enterprises to experience post-privatization ownership changes.     

a fire inspector calls

Mike Fisher, an Institute of Economic Affairs' trustee and director of Whale Tankers, explains what happened when the fire inspector called on the home of the great British whale.     

美日韩居民用电阶梯电价及其对我国的启示

20世纪70年代石油危机爆发后,美国、日本、韩国等开始对居民用电实行阶梯电价.尽管美日韩居民用电阶梯电价的用电量档次及其价格不同,但都遵循多用电者多付费的定价原则,在促进节约用电的同时,保障了低收入居民生活.我国应借鉴美日韩实行居民用电阶梯电价的做法,发挥居民用电阶梯电价引导居民家庭节约用电、促进社会公平、保障低收入居民生活的作用.     

构建稳价安民长效机制的思考

稳价安民长效机制是指围绕稳价格、保民生,运用经济、法律和必要行政手段对价格总水平波动进行直接或间接干预的制度体系及其运作方式。构建稳价安民长效机制是经济健康发展的必然选择、抑制通货膨胀的客观需要、深化价格改革的重要条件、保民生促和谐的现实要求、克服市场失灵的有效措施。构建稳价安民长效机制应做好发展生产,增加供给;规范流通,减少环节;建立储备,调节市场;加强监测,引导预期;依法监管,维护秩序;实施救助,保障民生等工作。     

Earnings conference calls and stock returns: The incremental informativeness of textual tone

Quarterly earnings conference calls are becoming a more pervasive tool for corporate disclosure. However, the extent to which the market embeds information contained in the tone (i.e. sentiment) of conference call wording is unknown. Using computer aided content analysis, we examine the incremental informativeness of quarterly earnings conference calls and the corresponding market reaction. We find that conference call linguistic tone is a significant predictor of abnormal returns and trading volume. Furthermore, conference call tone dominates earnings surprises over the 60 trading days following the call. The question and answer portion of the call has incremental explanatory power for the post-earnings-announcement drift and this significance is primarily concentrated in firms that do not pay dividends, illustrating differences in investor behavior based on the level of cash flow uncertainty. Additionally, we find that a context specific linguistic dictionary is more powerful than a more widely used general dictionary (Harvard IV-4 Psychosocial).